Last Thursday we mixed it up with our Pulp Action rules again. We had four gangs going at it in a Meeting Engagement, which is a fancy way of saying an outdoor brawl. I had Dangerous Jane and her Ornery Galoots, Bob had Lloyd's Llads (not to be confused with Lloyd's Llamas), Bobby Dern had Dark Helmut's Dumkopfs (I say that because I don't really know the name of his gang), and lastly Greg with his Legal Eagles.
As you can see here, the Galoots did not learn from their previous encounter with Angus MacBastard and his +4 Sporran of Dynamite Holding. No, that is not a euphemism.
And while it may look like a Gorkamorka truck, Lloyd's Lads actually have a rare model 1926 Funkengruvenwagon. Sadly, the company went under in '27 with the release of the newest version of their truck, which featured an internal combustion engine that used nitroglycerine for fuel. Angus is in the back with Crazy Charlie Wilson and his Goddam BAR because... well... where else are you going to put him?
Meanwhile members of the Shadow's gang decide to find religion the hard way, because nothing says dramatic entrance like crashing in through a massive stained glass window. Now please bear in mind I am not casting stones. My Galoots frequently go in via windows, as does just about everyone else. Doors are dangerous.
Lloyd also needs some time to contemplate his lot in life, so he and his bodyguard Ahkmed decide to go in via the back door -- referred to by some as the Catholic entry. Good thing Lloyd is an Anglican.
Meanwhile I had the Galoots hunker down in a store front, my rifles and BAR looking out into the square, while a few cronies were watching the back door and lot. Despite the fact that this is a pretty awesome photo, it doesn't really show that I was not in the best of positions. Just out of frame to the left is another corner building that was position so I couldn't see the left lane in the town square. This cut down my effectiveness because I couldn't cover as much open ground as I could with my rifles and my own LMG (I'm calling it a Bren so Sammo can be different from Charlie).
When Lloyd's Lads took the building in the middle of the board, they were in a good spot to fire on my position, but my options to return fire were limited. Sammo got the bright idea to jump out the storefront window and get into the building across the street, which had some prime real estate for gun emplacements. So he dove out the window, dashed across the street and into the shop door.
Whoops! This is why we don't use doors, people! Dark Helmut was in the building next door, and Bobby decided to play the "Meet My Minions!" card. Since Helmut didn't have line of sight to where he wanted his minions to appear, we agreed a Guts Check was needed to see if he could pull it off. The dice were in Bobby's favor, so Sammo found himself facing off against Doctah Tomba and his zombie retinue.
Meanwhile another melee broke out in the Church -- I think it was a disputed Bingo draw. Or maybe Lloyd and his Lads decided that the Shadow's gang needed to pay up for all the windows they broke. Regardless, this fell into a messy scrum quickly. Since it's impractical to furnish buildings and move minis around in them, we ruled that any gunplay inside a building like this invokes an automatic 5+ cover save for furniture, walls, etc.
Still in the ensuing fight, the Shadow got his clock cleaned (oddly enough, it was Lloyd and not Ahkmed that did the deed). Without the Shadow around Greg decided that his Code of Honor no longer applied, and our alliance was at an end. Three gangs against one is not a pleasant prospect, and to be honest I had it coming. The last time our gangs met I did loot his mansion, so karma was having its day.
To say things got ugly is a mild understatement. The zombie rush forced us to vacate our position -- via an upstairs window for some -- and by the time it was all over only Ivan (the one-armed Russian) made it out of there in one piece. The body count was high for me as well: two henchmen and one companion didn't live to see the sun come up. This was mitigated somewhat by the fact that my one henchman Smythe (of the Covington-Wembley Smythes) earned a promotion to companion. Still, it was expensive replenishing the ranks in preparation of our next match.
Greg had to bow out, leaving us with three gangs meeting at another village in order to Gather Info (that was the mission). So we setup the locale, laid out some markers and got to it.
Of course there's going to be a marker among the standing stones! While the Galoots check that out, Dark Helmut and Lloyd split their forces to cover as much ground as possible. Without a doubt it's the reason why they fared better in the match than I did with regards to markers.
Still, I wasn't going to leave without doing some damage first. Yet try as she might, Jane could not shoot the driver of that damn Funkengruvenwagon. After rolling a "1" on her first rifle shot, she decided to go with her newly purchased plan B. Grenades! Despite Jane's strength the grenade fell short of the truck and exploded harmlessly. Trying again for a bunch of Lloyd's lads, she rolled a "1" again. This did not mean she was out of grenades (we use a different die for that), oh no. The grenade rolled out of her hand and landed between her and henchwoman Shiela. Shiela's response was to leap to the opposite end of the circle while trying to spread herself over as much area as possible. Jane just gritted her teeth, took the wound and tried again next round.
Another "1". And if any of you ask "What are the odds," I will smack you with my Math degree. Luckily Jane survived this one and decided to reload her rifle. About that time Dark Helmut came up on our side and introduced us to his minions again. This time, however, Jayne and Sammo had plenty of range and time to react. One grenade and a burst from the Bren wiped out six zombies, and I decided to hightail it out of there before my luck got even worse.
Still, it wasn't a bad match. I managed to recover some of the funds lost from that beating I took, and I'm contemplating putting a scope on Sammo's Bren for next time.
